Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered a new potential risk marker for cardiovascular disease in older women.
The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, shows that low levels of a specific anti-inflammatory antibody, called anti-PC, are linked to an increased risk of heart attack and coronary heart disease in women.
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for both women and men in Sweden.
However, research on women’s heart health has historically received less attention, and women often develop heart disease later in life than men.
Women also tend to have more risk factors, including high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart failure. This new study highlights how low levels of the anti-PC antibody could serve as an additional independent risk marker for heart disease in older women.
The anti-PC antibody helps protect against atherosclerosis, a chronic inflammation of the vessel walls that can lead to heart disease.
Previous research had shown that low levels of this antibody increased the risk of cardiovascular disease in men. Now, this study confirms that the same holds true for women.
“We have shown that low levels of the natural antibody to phosphorylcholine, anti-PC, can be used as a risk marker for cardiovascular disease in women as well, independent of other known risk factors,” said Professor Johan Frostegård, lead researcher on the study.
The research followed 932 women from the Swedish Mammography Cohort over 16 years. The participants had an average age of 66 at the start of the study, and 113 of them developed cardiovascular disease during the study period.
The results showed that women with high levels of the anti-PC antibody had a 25% lower risk of developing coronary heart disease or having a heart attack compared to those with lower levels of the antibody.
While the study demonstrates a clear link between low anti-PC levels and heart disease risk, it does not yet establish the exact level of the antibody that provides protection.
The researchers are now working on a larger study, involving both men and women, to determine a specific threshold for anti-PC levels that could be used as a risk marker, similar to how high blood pressure is measured.
The researchers hope that these findings will eventually lead to the development of a vaccine that could raise anti-PC levels in people with low amounts of the antibody, potentially offering a new way to prevent atherosclerosis and heart disease.
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Source: Karolinska Institutet.
